A new paved trail along the Chattahoochee River is set to open at Riverview Park in Smyrna on Thursday, Oct. 8, giving walkers, runners and bicyclists a fresh route to the water's edge. The path is located at 6275 Riverview Road SE, just north of U.S. Highway 78 on the western banks of the river, and marks completion of the northern section of the Chattahoochee RiverLands Showcase.
A Small Trail With a Big Backstory
According to Urbanize Atlanta, the Riverview Park trail is a half-mile multi-use path, though the Chattahoochee RiverLands organization describes this particular paved section as 0.3 miles — the two measurements aren't reconciled in available records. Either way, the trail weaves through a 12-acre linear park offering scenic views and shaded areas, and Trust for Public Land has said the Smyrna site features a paved, shared-use path that includes a Trust for Public Land boardwalk spanning scenic wetlands, a soft-surface trail, an education nook and a river overlook.
Trust for Public Land officials are expected to join Smyrna Mayor Derek Norton and Cobb County Commissioner Monique Sheffield for the opening, per the same account. Officials have called the project tangible progress toward realizing the broader Chattahoochee RiverLands vision. The project description says, “The trail will become a welcoming place for neighbors and visitors alike to engage with the river and one another.”
Thousands of New Neighbors, One New Front Door to the River
Riverview Park sits next to hundreds of newer residential units, including complexes like the Eddy at Riverview and Series at Riverview Landing, and the trail is expected to link more than 1,000 nearby residents to the river, per Trust for Public Land. The organization's materials describe the path as offering scenic views, shaded areas and an easy route for both transportation and recreation.
The Smyrna segment is the northern anchor of what's known locally as the Cobb RiverLands Showcase Project, which will span three miles and connect Riverview Landing with destinations farther south, including Discovery Park and Mableton Parkway. Trust for Public Land has described the broader 2.7-mile Showcase corridor as linking Smyrna to Mableton with a greenway trail, new parkland and enhanced water access, while the Cobb project overall aims to demonstrate what connected public access along the full 100-mile corridor could look like.
Part of a 100-Mile Vision — With Some Disagreement on the Details
The Chattahoochee RiverLands concept is billed as a 100-mile linear park network, though sources differ on exactly how many communities it will eventually link. The Chattahoochee RiverLands organization describes the vision as connecting communities from Buford Dam to Chattahoochee Bend State Park, while SaportaReport has described the overall plan as connecting 19 metro Atlanta cities and seven counties. Rough Draft Atlanta, meanwhile, has put that figure at 20 cities and seven counties — a discrepancy that remains unresolved across the project's own materials.
Momentum behind the broader effort has been building for years. Trust for Public Land has reported that, since 2020, public funders and philanthropic organizations have committed more than $250 million toward building out the RiverLands, and the organization separately announced it met an $18.15 million philanthropic funding goal for the Showcase site specifically. State dollars have played a role too — Axios Atlanta has reported that Georgia's Outdoor Stewardship Program, described as a voter-approved state fund, has helped finance RiverLands park and trailhead projects.
Comparable Projects Up and Down the River
Smyrna's opening follows a string of other RiverLands milestones elsewhere along the Chattahoochee. Discovery Park at the River Line in Mableton opened in December 2024 with its own 0.6-mile trail, and in Chattahoochee Hills, the New RiverLands Park and Campbellton Park opened on April 1, creating direct access to the river in South Metro Atlanta with 260 acres of park space that includes campsites, a shower, restrooms and a floating dock with a kayak launch, according to SaportaReport.
Further south, Trust for Public Land has said construction was slated to begin in 2024 on a planned RiverLands Gateway Park, a 12-acre former industrial site envisioned as a regional trailhead with a kayak launch, boat ramp, bathrooms, parking and a link to the Silver Comet Trail, per Axios Atlanta. Urbanize Atlanta has also reported on an 8.6-acre site purchased for the project's first regional trailhead between Interstate 285 and Six Flags Over Georgia, though it's not confirmed whether that project or the Gateway Park plan have since been completed.
For now, the focus is on Smyrna, where Trust for Public Land has framed the long-planned project as a milestone for both the city and the wider region's push toward a connected river corridor. The new path offers the first tangible piece of that vision for the hundreds of residents now living within walking distance of the Chattahoochee.
